WIAW: is it Christmas already?

by Antonia on September 19, 2012

Happy WIAW to you all? How are you this fine Wednesday morning? I have to say I feel a lot better than the last two days. After moving into my new place on Sunday, I finished unpacking and settling in that night. On Monday morning however I woke up with a very sore throat. I told you something felt wrong after my run, didn’t I? Of course with every move comes a lot of work. I’m very lucky that I live in a fully furnished apartment with great house mates but there’s still little things that needed to be done {like changing my address at the bank} so the last 2 days were very busy and exhausting. I was lucky enough that my boss gave me 2 days off of work since I don’t know how I would have possibly done everything that needed to be done! Back at work today though.

So my Monday began with a sore throat. I would have liked to stay in bed for another hour or so but honestly I wouldn’t have been able to sleep knowing that I had lots on my to-do list. The first thing I did was call my mom since I had no idea of what to do to get rid of the sore throat. Her tip: buy ginger! Before making it to the store though I needed to have breakfast. On the menu: oatmeal with frozen raspberries stirred in towards the end with spelt crunchy granola and almond butter. On the side I had mango flavored black tea.

{FYI: Oktoberfest starts this weekend and it’s embarrassing how excited I am since it’s not something that typically screams my name. But I can’t wait to parade my Dirndl around town and where better to do so that in “Oktoberfest-central”}

After breakfast I drove into the city center and started to work off my list. I needed to quickly make a stop at a home décor/ furniture store and I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw this:

I love winter and everything the joyous season brings with it but we’re still more than 3 months away from Christmas so all the decoration seemed out of place, especially since it was quite hot on Monday. I would prefer some nice autumn-y deco like pumpkins instead. I know I’ll be back at the store once November come round though!

I drove home around noon, shopping bags in hand and prepared lunch. Not sure what it was, I just took whatever I found in the fridge and created a quinoa-carrot bowl. I also added some dried tomatoes and grilled some zucchini. I seasoned it with pesto Genovese to give it a more Mediterranean feel. This did a wonderful job of keeping me full for the afternoon so I could continue to work on my to-do list.

My afternoon snack: a cereal bar. It was good, but I can’t wait to go to Whole Foods in London {tomorrow in one week….how time flies} to buy some actual cereal bars that aren’t loaded with sugar.

In the afternoon I finally had time to buy some ginger so I made some ginger tea. I boiled water with some ginger added 3 tea bags and let it simmer on the stove for about 10 or 15 minutes. I had about 2 liters of that stuff throughout the afternoon.

Also, my mom told my to grate some ginger and press it through a paper towel so that I could drink the juice. It was only about a tablespoon of pure ginger juice {I added some honey as well} but my throat was on fire afterwards. I immediately washed it down with some chocolate….so fast that I couldn’t snap a picture. I hope you understand!

Yesterday I didn’t feel like being such a hard-core ginger juice drinker so I simply added the ginger juice to my tea and added a spoon of honey. It was a lot better that way and I’m sure it had the same effect.

For dinner I didn’t feel like cooking a super fancy meal so I made myself a plate of bread, spreads, cheese and veggies/ fruit instead.

Happy WIAW! Pretty good meals considering you just moved!!! For a sore throat I make a tea of fresh ginger and sliced asian pears, just boiled together with water. And add some honey to taste and it always does the trick.

I seriously love your dinner plates. Look perfect to me. Also, I remember when we were in Munich a few years ago it was Oktoberfest time and there were Christmas decorations everywhere! However it was in Salzburg where we stumbled across this gorgeous little shop which sold Christmas decorations all year round! It was so cute. We don’t have that in Australia, as Christmas is usually on the back patio and a swim is compulsory. I’ve had an awfully sore throat all week so maybe I should try some ginger. I’m not joking, I’ve had this sore throat since Sunday! Ugh.

Same here. Sore throat started on Sunday and although it’s better already I have a runny nose which is even more annoying!
I know that place in Salzburg {my grandparents live in Salzburg} and they also have one store where they only sell easter eggs, all year round.
Hope you feel better soon!!!

As always your food amazes me. I see so many pictures of oatmeal and sometimes they’re not always visually appealing (although I’m sure delicious). Yours always look great though, and I love an easy breezy dinner.
For sore throats, ginger is great and I also do some lemon juice and a little honey in my tea. And I gargle with salt water. Last, the best cure is rest so try to take it easy if you can. Hope you are feeling better soon.

When I have a sore throat I usually just deal. Lol. I only take medicine if one of two things happen: 1. If I have a hard time concentrating or eating I will take tylenol to deal with the pain. 2. I will go to the doctor for medicine if it doesn’t go away or if I think something is wrong.

Right now I have a sore throat too and I am just taking these anti-bacterial drops that my naturopath gave me. Hot tea always helps too!

My mom always recommends ginger too!! Mothers know best. =) Personally, I love mixing some cayenne pepper with boiling water and chugging it down once it’s cool enough. And gargling with warm salt water is definitely a good practice too. Great to read through these comments for ideas!

I’m so excited for Christmas, but you’re right…there are way too many other things to enjoy before then!

Just came across your blog this afternoon and thought it was lovely, so I figured I’d say hi I can’t believe that they’re already starting to put out the Christmas stuff. I mean, I absolutely love the holiday, but Halloween hasn’t even come and gone yet so that seems a bit much!

Sorry to hear about your sore throat I usually tend to stick to the natural route when I get a sore throat, unless it’s something more serious like strep. I find it helps to load up on the vitamin C, drink warm tea with some honey and lemon, and… this one sounds ridiculous but it really works… boil some milk with a crushed clove of garlic, sweeten it with some honey, and drink it down. My mom has been giving me that concoction since I was a tiny little thing, and I guess the antibacterial properties of garlic are supposed to help. Hope you feel better soon!

Hi Amanda. Thank you for stopping by, glad you found my blog.
Thank you also for those tips on how to get rid of my sore throat…that milk concotion sounds like it just has to work! I’ll try it out if my sore throat gets any worse but right now it’s more my runny nose that’s causing problems!

Hi Antonia !
I hope your throat is getting better…
It’s so nice to hear from you and from Munich! I can’t wait to see the pictures of Oktoberfest, with you, Helena and whoever with dirndls ^^
I’m so sad I didn’t stay long enough to enjoy your cooking skills …

Salut Eloise! Hope you and Joséphine got home alright!!! Congratulations on now being an “Ingénieure”. We already miss all you Krafties, it’s a bit quiet without you!
I’ll add lots of Oktoberfest pics, especially for you And I will get back to you for that cake recipe!!! It was incredibly delicious!

Aww I am sorry you were suffering with a sore throat the other day Antonia Not fun at all… but your mom’s remedies are ones I use myself! Ginger seems to help, and I also down tons of tea throughout the day! I will admit though in between tea I have some advil, it always does the trick haha. So both natural and regular ole meds for me
The hummus plate is such an ideal snack for me… so many delicious flavors in one, and healthy and nutritious of course too